Therapeutic effects of combined meloxicam and glucosamine sulfate treatment on patients with osteoarthritis, and its effect on serum CTX-Ⅰ, CTX-Ⅱ, COMP and MMP-3

Purpose: To study the therapeutic influence of meloxicam-glucosamine sulfate combination in patients with osteoarthritis and their effect on serum CTX-I, CTX-II, COMP and MMP-3. Methods: A total of 88 patients with osteoarthritis were assigned to control (n = 44) and treatment groups (n = 44), using the random number table method. Control group was given 7.5 mg of meloxicam, while treatment group received 0.5 g of glucosamine sulfate capsule in addition to meloxicam. Both groups were treated continuously for 8 weeks. Serum levels of C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I), C-terminal telopeptide of type II collagen (CTX-II), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) were compared for the two groups after treatment. Results: Lysholm score significantly increased in the two groups after treatment. Serum CTX-I, CTX-II, COMP and MMP-3 in the two groups were significantly lower than before treatment, but the reductions were more pronounced in the treatment group (p < 0.05). During treatment, mild vomiting and pruritus of the skin appeared in both groups, but these were relieved after symptomatic treatment without any serious adverse reactions. Conclusion: Treatment with a combination of meloxicam and glucosamine sulfate produces significant beneficial effects in patients with osteoarthritis by reduction of clinical symptoms, pain relief and reduction of serum CTX-I, CTX-II, MMP-3 and COMP

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data